Category
🐳
AnimalsTranscript
00:00 (playful music)
00:03 The day has come for tapir couple Marjorie and Batong
00:06 to be reunited.
00:08 Keepers believe Marjorie is fertile again
00:12 and she'll be expecting her mate to perform.
00:15 But Batong is completely out of practice
00:18 as it's three years since the couple conceived solo.
00:22 - Today's the day we're gonna do the mix
00:23 with Marjorie and Batong.
00:24 Marjorie's quite excited.
00:25 She's already trying to climb the partition
00:27 between her and Batong,
00:28 so she's eager to get in there with him.
00:30 - She knows that solo's gone
00:32 and he potentially won't know that,
00:34 so to him, nothing's changed.
00:36 He's just being a bit slow.
00:37 But it'll be interesting to see when they are mixed
00:40 who then becomes more interested.
00:43 Hey, Chucky.
00:44 We mix them in the bedrooms first,
00:48 just open up the slides so they can get to each other.
00:50 This just means that if there was any negative interaction,
00:52 we can split them off really quickly.
00:55 Right, Marjorie, the time has come.
00:58 - Ready for this one?
00:59 - Yeah, yeah, let's do it.
01:00 You wanna see Batong?
01:04 What you gonna do?
01:05 Oh, you're squirting.
01:07 - Ignoring each other.
01:08 - That's what we like, loads of squirting.
01:11 As long as he's not aimed at me.
01:12 - So the spraying is a good way of communication
01:15 for the tape here in the wild.
01:16 They may not come into contact
01:17 with each other very frequently.
01:19 There'll be a lot of messages in that spray
01:21 that they can read from each other.
01:22 So she's probably telling him that I'm here
01:25 and come and find me.
01:26 - Oh, he's buggering off.
01:32 Hey, mister, you buggered off.
01:35 You're not that bothered about her.
01:37 - When we first opened the slides
01:39 and they completely ignored each other,
01:40 that was a bit of a shock.
01:41 We expected some kind of sniffing
01:43 and just saying, oh, kind of, hello, it's you again.
01:46 There was just nothing.
01:47 - Hey, mister, why are you going out to the air?
01:51 Why are you?
01:52 Got me then, bugger.
01:54 - Blowing squirted.
01:55 This is the thing with these.
01:57 - The couple go outside together,
01:59 but Batong still seems to be showing
02:01 a marked lack of interest in Marjorie.
02:04 - I sort of know what these are gonna do.
02:09 They're stupid.
02:10 Marjorie's desperate wanting to get in there.
02:14 She went to him and he just walked away from her.
02:16 So it might be him that's playing hard to get.
02:18 She's quite big, isn't she, Marjorie?
02:22 I think I'll be scared of her.
02:24 - If Marjorie is going to mate with Batong,
02:27 she's got to find a way to engage his attention.
02:31 - There's always the risk
02:38 he might not find her attractive anymore.
02:40 - Until then, it seems her partner has other priorities.
02:46 (gentle music)
02:49 Malayan tapir couple Marjorie and Batong
02:56 have been reunited after two years apart.
03:00 Batong should be keen to court his old flame,
03:03 but he's out of practice
03:06 and seems to prefer to spend his time relaxing instead.
03:11 - When we mixed them,
03:12 it was like two ships passing in the night.
03:14 Marjorie went to his bed.
03:15 He went to her bed and that was it.
03:17 - So Marjorie is going to have to do all the running.
03:22 - Here we go, look.
03:24 Got his attention.
03:29 She seemed to make a squeaking noise
03:33 and that initiated the running and the chasing.
03:36 Here we go.
03:37 We might start having a little chase in a minute.
03:44 - It's the fastest I've probably seen them move
03:46 apart from when they've been scared.
03:48 - The whistling's communication,
03:50 so they're just chatting with each other
03:52 and a bit excited.
03:53 - She's spraying a lot, showing her interest,
03:57 but yeah, so hopefully, nothing's happened yet,
04:00 but hopefully soon.
04:01 - Now Marjorie has Batong's attention,
04:04 she needs to test his virility.
04:07 - She'll probably tease him a bit, really,
04:11 so show that she's interested in making sure
04:13 that he's good enough for her
04:14 and showing he's got the stamina to keep up with her
04:16 and be a good dad,
04:17 and so it'll give her good genes for the offspring.
04:21 - Marjorie takes the lead and encourages Batong
04:24 to follow her as they would in the wild.
04:26 - In between the whistling and the chasing,
04:29 there was a few attempted matings,
04:31 but it wasn't in the right position.
04:33 - A bit out of practice, I think, from the look of it.
04:36 She's not been standing for him
04:38 'cause I don't think she's too impressed,
04:39 but yeah, hopefully a bit more practice
04:41 and he'll get it right.
04:43 (whistling)
04:46 (roaring)
04:48 (roaring)
04:50 (roaring)
04:52 (roaring)
04:54 (roaring)
04:57 (roaring)
04:59 (roaring)
05:01 [BLANK_AUDIO]